When Judd Meets Lexi

16

Judd

"I need advice," I whisper on the phone, my lower lip taken between my teeth.

"What's up?" my dad asks, and I sigh.

"This is going to sound crazy but I need to just talk this out," I say, and I hear shuffling on the phone. I worry that he's going to get my mom, but I just let it go for a moment.

"Okay, I moved out of the living room. You alright?" he asks, and I nod while rubbing my eyes.

"I really like her," I say, and he hums in agreement.

"And," he encourages, and I feel myself instantly regretting this phone call. I feel like he's about to give me a lot of shit for this.

"When did you know you loved mom?" I ask, putting everything in my mind out. I know he's probably smiling and thinking I'm a nerd for asking.

"Do you think you love her?" he asks, and I roll my eyes.

"Why else would I ask, dad?" I rhetorically ask, causing him to laugh. I just want this conversation to be quick and he's turned it into what seems to be an unbearable conversation that is bound to be awkward.

"Alright, how long have you been dating?" he asks, and I tell him about three months. At least that's when I started talking to her, which she played hard to get for about two weeks during that.

"I just, don't know if what I'm feeling for her is love," I say, and start thinking about her. She's been all I've thought about since we started dating.

"Just talk it out Judd. Trust me, I wish I had that when I was going through this," he explains, and I nod. He told me that his father wasn't in the picture much after his parents separated. My grandma is the greatest person; so is my mom's mom. I really did have an amazing childhood; everyone in my family such amazing people.

My aunt Gemma always gave me everything I wanted and my aunt Lucy was like an older sister. It was so fun growing up with everyone, even though my dad was hard on me to make sure I was where I am today.

"She's all I think about. And before you ask if she's a distraction, she's not. In fact, she basically encourages me to do so much before her, like sleep, eat, lift, homework, everything. She's selfless and I feel like it's too good to be true but I don't want to let her go," I start, my heart pounding. Just talking about her makes me feel this way.

"And, like, when she stays over, I like to see her face when I wake up. She only stays over once a week and I know you're probably going to tell me I shouldn't do that, but I don't care. I just want to make sure I'm the one she smiles at and wake up to in the morning and...and I don't want her to leave," I say, catching my breath at the end.

"Judd," my dad says, breaking my words.

"Yeah?" I ask, and I sit up. I rest my head in my hand.

"You love her," he tells me, and I bite my lower lip. I don't know what I said that makes him know this.

"She's all you're thinking about and the fact that she's taking care of you means a lot. The reason I realized I loved your mom was because I literally felt like I didn't want to leave her. I wanted to be by her and just see her every day, because she let me be myself. Another thing was I didn't feel like I needed to hide my emotions with her, like you do with the guys. When she went to Ghana, it was the worst time of my life," he tells me, and I nod. I remember him telling me about the Ghana story, and my mom talked about it too. Hadley was all 'it's a match made in heaven', and I didn't really know what to say about the whole thing. Long distance sounds horrible and I never understood why anyone would do that.

Now I know why, because if Lexi and I ever needed to be long distance, my ass will do everything I can to make sure she stays mine.

"This is going to sound like every movie you've seen, but just follow how you feel. You gotta take a risk, because I had no idea what the fuck I was doing when I started dating your mom," he tells me, and I can't help but laugh at him.

"Sounds good, thanks," I tell him, and he tells me to call him if I need to. I hang up the phone and lay back on my bed, sighing heavily.

My thoughts are consumed by my redheaded girlfriend and I want nothing more than to just be with her. Lexi is definitely someone I want to be in my life as long as I can. The thought of waking up to doe eyes in the morning and giving her a kiss every day makes me know that she's got me wrapped around her finger.